Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Is Dr. A a quack?

It has definitely been an interesting seven days. You may have been wondering why the comment moderation has now been turned on. I talk about what's been happening in a video I recorded over the weekend while I was out of town.

I apologize for the fair quality of the video. I had my laptop last weekend. And, of course, it's not a fast as the home desktop. The audio is pretty clear and that's what's most important.

There have been many questions (via e-mail and comments) on whether I'm actually a real physician or not. Get ready, because this is the only post I'm ever going to talk about this. And then, I'm moving on with my life.

For those without high speed internet capability, you should know that this video lasts about eight minutes and on my computer the file is about 8 MB. Hopefully, that will give you an idea how long the download time will be.

So, without further ado, and for those who are interested, Doctor Anonymous answers his critics in this video I'm calling, "Duped by Dr. A?" (link removed)

20 comments:

Anonymous
said...

You are one brave anonymous doctor, dude! Just watched the video. Interesting that we're both having crises regarding blogger at the same time. Mine got better (see addition to my post Rock Bottom). Hope yours does, too!

Good for you! I don't think you should have to tell us anything about who you really are. I'm not looking for medical advice, so who am I to care if you really are a doctor or not? All that matters is that I like reading your blog and find a lot of humor in it. You just better hope no one from your small town sees your videos or your cover is blown! hahaha!

You're making a fortune from this??? What in the world am I doing wrong? hahaha!

Add another one here who is having crises regarding blogging as well! Mine has not resolved just yet as you know, since I only took down about 95% of my blog today, in the hopes that this will lead to some resolution of my anxieties. We'll see...

But I second FD - you are definitely one brave anonymous doc! You've always been one of my bestest blog buddies, even if we were out of touch for awhile, and you know I got your back!

For those doubters...Dr. A is most definitely a physician. I'm not revealing one iota about him further than that...EVER, so you'll have to take my word on it, as well as his!

I think that, here in the "medical blogosphere," we become a bit "connected" to one another, and that leaves us all open for a bit of anguish and doubt ... however, we have to be careful of the demands we put on one another, all the same.

There are fellow bloggers who know me extremely well, and others who only know me as Moof. I know a few of the people I communicate with on here ... but most I take at face value.

Even after this past summer's "Naked Tomato" fiasco, I feel that I can still enjoy anonymous blogs - and anonymous bloggers.

It's not how much or how little of themselves a blogger gives that makes them a threat ... it's how much I give them of myself.

I am the threat to myself ... in how much I choose to trust someone. A person can do me harm whether I know who they are - or whether I don't.

I am not in any way connected to the medical community except I like to read medical-related blogs. You're not MY doctor so why does it matter whether or not you're a doctor offline or you just play one in your blog?!

Keep blogging! I appreciate your insight, humor and take on things in general.

Some people have no life. Shoot, even if you were not really a doctor my whole world would not come crashing down on me since I really do not invest all that much into my blogging relationships such as they are. You still put out some great content and that is really all that matters, that is really why people keep coming back.

I know of one policeman who blogs and had to go to being a private journal because his superiors at work found his blog and read it. He got off with a reprimand. I know of a lady who worked at a hospital, and blogged her opinion of some people who came into the emergency room as a result of a wreck (without mentioning names). She described their situation, they somehow read it, and she lost her job. You can't be too careful.

Good job, Doc. When Nurse Ratched's Place was chosen as a Blog of Note by Blogger, I received hate mail and many comments that questioned my credentials. There is always going to be someone who will try and rain on your parade.

Rock on, Dr A! At first I thought you would come clean, but as I listened to you explain why you weren't going to do the big reveal, it totally made perfect sense. Why should you have to defend yourself? You've done nothing wrong, except maybe entertain this housewife for a few moments of her boring life! Keep blogging!

Even though I don't have a whole lot to lose if my identy was figured out, I still prefer to stay somewhat Anonymous in the blogging world. If someone wanted to, i'm sure that they could figure out my identy but I don't really care...and if you think about it, if someone really wanted to, they could figure out your idenity based on your video blogs. So it goes.

Your reasons for doing what you are doing is good. It wouldn't do anyone any good to know your idenity, all they need to know is that yes, you are a doctor and yes, you have gone to medical school, etc. But that information is for you and your patients to know. Just because you don't make that information public doesn't mean that it's not real.

Every single person that uses the internet has kept information private, some more than others. There isn't anything wrong with it, in fact, it's something that's neccessary to do in regards to the internet. I bet the person or person's questioning your credientials didn't give you his or her real name or their credentials...it goes both ways.

The best and worse things about the internet is the issue of idenity. No one is exactly who they say they are, whether its giving an ALIAS or completely making up the fictious person they would like to be, it's a scary world out there on the www and it's important to do what you have to do to keep yourself safe and keep a sense of security about yourself.

I'm sure every single one of us online has had a story of giving just a tad tmi to someone and later on regreting it.

Exactly why my blog is also anonymous. I can say what I really think without offending those who know me personally. I can speak the truth, without my colleagues up the street feeling like I'm publicly dissing them. I can tell my clients why their behavior pisses me off, even if my clients never read it, somewhere out in the blogosphere will and it will ring true.

Hey Dr. A it is your total right to be anonymous, actually everyone of us will prefer this deep inside.blogging is just saying out loud all what you 're thinking of and sometimes you don't want to reveal this to anybody, so you just put it in your own blog.There is only one thing that i can't get, as long as you wanna be anonymous, how come do face the world in a video with your real picture?anyways, keep blogging, you blog is one of the most intresting blogs.

Wow....I had no idea this was going on....you stay as anonymous as you would like...it doesn't matter to me if you are a doctor or not...I enjoy reading you blog..it gives us food for thought and dialogue....but I am really scared now about all this hate stuff that is going around...I have been reading it on many blogs lately....what's going on out there....it's certainly an eye opener for me....do what you must Dr.A

Dr. Anonymous, I got turned on to what I call "Doctory blogs," aka any related to medicine - through my sister, quite recently; I've never read any of your posts before, the first I've seen is this one, and the first "video blog" i've seen every is your "Duped by Dr. A?" ; first of all - you are courageous. Incredibly courageous. I hope you are able to keep your blog, your anonymity, your medical practice, and your life intact through this.